24 Photos That Prove Cats Take Better Bookshelfies Than Humans

Isaac Fitzgerald, a McSweeneys’ publicist and former managing editor of the Rumpus, and Max Fenton, an editor at The Believer, recently started a craze for what they call bookshelfies. They are, to put it briefly, selfies taken in front of bookshelves. Now, though Isaac is wonderful and lovely, I have to say I don’t find looking at people’s selfies particularly compelling unless I (a) know them personally or (b) they are famous and I can marvel at how strange it is that people who are constantly being photographed want yet more images of themselves. No offense, world! You are all beautiful.

But: I find myself incredibly drawn to pictures of cats I don’t know with their owners’ bookshelves. Cats just have greater posing talents. They are discerning about the kinds of shelves they will perch on. Monochrome cats, like my friend Kathleen’s cat Oliver, look really spiffy posing next to color coded bookshelves in particular. Check Oliver out:

Many cats on the Internet have, over time, followed Oliver’s lead. And so, in a slight pander which we make with the good intentions of alleviating your back-to-school stress and irritation, here are some other great images of cats and their bookshelves. Which they allow their owners to pretend ownership to.